1. Field of the Invention
An air blower and an air conditioner having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air blower is a device that generates airflow. The air blower may be applied to an air conditioner for conditioning indoor air to blow air for cooling or heating an indoor space.
The air blower generally includes a rotation motor and a centrifugal fan rotating at high speed to generate a centrifugal force. The centrifugal fan exhausts air through centrifugal force out of the centrifugal fan.
The centrifugal fan generally includes a main plate connected to a driving shaft of the motor, an impeller including a plurality of blades arranged on the main plate in a circumferential direction, and a fan housing for accommodating the impeller.
The fan housing generally includes an inlet suctioning (e.g., sucking) air in a rotation axis direction, and an outlet exhausting air in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis after air is extruded in a radial direction by rotation of the impeller. The fan housing may have a scroll-shaped flow path between the impeller and the fan housing to guide air toward the outlet.
A double suction type blower generally includes an impeller having blades each disposed at both sides of a main plate, a fan housing having inlets each disposed at both side of the main plate, and a rotation motor disposed at one of the inlets. In such a double suction type blower, when air is suctioned through the inlet at which the motor is attached, the motor operates as a resistance to the airflow. Thereby, deviation of airflows at both inlets occurs. This causes a fan to be off-balance and, as such, efficiency and performance of the fan are decreased and power consumption and noise are increased.